White Paper: Social Computing For Organizations — Open Text In The Web 2.0 Paradigm

By Open Text

Today, Web 2.0 and social computing encapsulate a new understanding of how Internet users interact with each other and consume Web content. A few years ago, the Internet experienced a paradigm shift with the introduction of new interactive technologies and communication models. While Web 2.0 refers mainly to technical innovations, social computing discusses user participation and interaction with a website. Web pages that were once static are suddenly enriched by a culture of user participation and contribution, producing high-quality, diverse content. As social computing moves into the business world, employees, customers, and other users contribute to this diversity by authoring and monitoring information for internal or public use. As a result, more organizations are starting to incorporate the principles of "user-generated content" and "many-to-one" into their marketing strategies to create business models for driving revenue.

"Web 2.0" and "Social Computing" refer not to a technological revolution, but to a way of searching, presenting, and consuming information via the Internet. This trend is becoming even more firmly established in everyday life, and is increasingly becoming the standard for new concepts such as wikis, blogs, forums, and other ways for collaborating online.

Platforms such as Wikipedia, video and image communities (YouTube), or link collections (del.icio.us) provide easy access to information where every user can contribute, change and improve upon existing content. Referred to as "collective intelligence," these collaborative sites provide a virtual space for diversity, quality, and controlled content. Several new sites have recently emerged that have made the Internet an ideal place for exchange, participation, and nurturing personal and professional networks.

Company websites and intranets enhanced with user-generated content and other Web applications improve communication with both internal and external audiences. In time, customers, partners, employees and others will expect companies to deliver content within an online environment that encourages social interaction and provides maximum flexibility for finding the right content at the right time.

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